Heart fluttering and skipping beats

I am a 42 year-old 107lb. female. I do not smoke or drink. I stay pretty physically active with clogging and the gym. I went to my physician in June with complaints of my heart fluttering and feeling like I'm losing my breath. It had been going on for several months. They ordered a 24 hr heart monitor for me and found that it recorded a couple of skipped beats. I was referred to a cardiologist that ordered the 30 day monitor. This was the type that had to be sent by a phone line when it had 6 recordings. I was dumping the recordings several times a day. I had a stress test in September and a nuclear stress test in October. All showing consistent skipping, while maintaining a low rate.

This morning I had an appointment for a CT scan. It was easy to get to the low 50s range for the test, but getting a good beat without the skipping was difficult. I was given a dose of medicine (I don't remember what the nurse called it) that would help with lowering the rate and keeping it steady. She complained several times that I wasn't breathing correctly to get a good scan. After several attempts, my doctor was called and he recommended a different medicine in my IV. After the second dose I became dizzy and nauseous and my words were slurring. The nurse seemed alarmed by my symptoms, but continued with the iodine injection. After a few more tries and an hour later, it was over and they were hoping that they got a couple of good scans for the doctor to see. I was still very woozy and then got the shakes. It took about 30 more minutes for me to feel like I could walk and turn my head without falling over. Could I have gotten an overdose? Or was my heart rate lowered too much?? I got the impression that they had not had this problem before and were a bit confused as to what to do.

I have only met my doctor once and I won't get to meet with him again until the first week in December. If the scan doesn't take what happens next? Could it be the dreaded heart catheter? And last, my problem has not been diagnosed yet, but could I be turned down for Life Insurance due to irregular heartbeats?

Hi Michelle
You certainly have been through a horrible experience but it looks like you look after yourself and have not long to wait now for your next meeting.
Can you think of anything different in your life in the few months up to june - any extra stress, change of diet, lack of sleep or an increase in your exercise routines.
I keep fit and recently had irregular heart rhythmns although my pulse was strong and slow and it turned out to be a low level infection from dental abcesses. These sort of infections will affect your heart rhythmn.
Also you will have read loads of posts on fish oil and i also use CoQ10 which is fantastic stuff - so are you taking any of these?
lastly are you breathing correctly - abdominal breathing rather than faster shallow breaths?
Best wishes
dave

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